


Too Good To Be True

by nepenthess



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst??, Death, F/M, OOC, Reality, Torture, maybe?? - Freeform, ooc jason?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 04:56:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16758364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthess/pseuds/nepenthess
Summary: You live in a reality where Jason Todd and his family only exists in comics. In other words, you’re real - and he’s not. Until one day, when you actually meet him.





	Too Good To Be True

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in around july and haven’t proofread it since so sorry if this doesn’t make sense lol

“Y/N!” 

You jolt awake, sliding off your chair and onto your bedroom floor. Groaning, you prop yourself up on one sarm, holding your head with the other, as you look up at your roommate, Aria. 

Aria’s eyes sweep the room, her eyebrows furrowing disapprovingly at the state of your bedroom: clothes are thrown over your chair, your dresser and on your bed, food wrappers litter the floor, a dirty coffee-stained cup sits on your desk, while comic books are piled on every surface in the room - your desk, your bed, your drawers, even the floor. 

She leans against the doorway. “What time did you sleep last night?” 

You rub your head sheepishly. “Uh… 5?” 

Aria shakes her head, and holds out a hand to you. “You have to stop staying up so late. It’s a Saturday.” 

“Uh, that’s exactly why I stay up so late. There’s no work tomorrow.” You accept her hand. 

“Comics aren’t worth sleep,” she scolds. You gasp at this, but she continues chewing you out. “You can’t keep up this lifestyle just for an obsession with a fictional family.” 

You are too tired to argue with her, so you just block out her reprimands and take a seat at the breakfast bar as she prepares lunch.

“They’re not just fiction,” you mutter to yourself once you’re sure she’s not listening. “They’re my life.” 

All day, every day, you go through the exact same thing: you reading comic books or fanfiction, and people telling you that you’re a mature adult who shouldn’t spend so much time on “childish” works of fiction and obsessing over a fictional character. You’re sick and tired of it, because you’re a grown adult who can do whatever the hell you want to do. 

It hurts that you’ll never be able to really know Jason Todd and his family in real life, since - well, since they’re not real. And, in the grand scheme of things, just because you know basically everything there is to know about him, it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t exist. 

You try not to think about it, but with more and more people reminding you every single day about your existence and his non-existence, it’s getting harder to forget and ignore the cold truth. 

But whatever. Comic books are apart of your identity. It’s the thing that makes you special, makes you stand out, makes you that stereotypical comic book nerd. 

And you wouldn’t change it for the world. 

You get through the day groggily with your daily dose of fanfiction, chips, coffee, and comics. At night, you do what you always do - stay up reading until you eventually fall asleep. 

You drift off into sleep, but no sooner than 2 minutes later, you wake up again. Stumbling over to the window (which you normally wouldn’t do, but you feel more energised, which is very strange; usually you would be too lethargic to even get up upon waking), you open the blinds to see that the sun is shining brightly. 

Looks like it’s another day on this painful planet. 

Walking out of the room, you notice that your vision is oddly bright, like someone put an instagram filter over your eyes and sources of light become too bright and make your eyes go out of focus, but you dismiss it. Perhaps it’s just your eyes playing tricks on you. 

“Aria?” You call out. “Are you here?” 

No one answers you, leading you to assume that she went for a run, but she has left you a sandwich, so that’s good. After eating breakfast, you change into thicker clothing and head downtown to the library to borrow some comics, even though you have a lot of unread books at home.

Okay, yeah, that’s basically what you do every day, but it doesn’t get boring. 

You step into the cozy library that seems more like a small cafe with books and dim, aesthetically pleasing lighting, and nod at the librarian, who smiles back. You don’t know her name, but she did allow you to slip in to borrow some books after closing hours, so you sort of respect her in a way. 

You make a beeline for the comics section and start to select certain favourite issues. You’ve already read 90% of the comics section, so now you basically just reread them over and over again. Sometimes it gets boring, but you’re too broke to buy new issues. 

While browsing, you flip through some pages of Red Hood and The Outlaws #2, but to your shock and horror, the pages are completely blank. 

The book starts to dissolve in your hands, and you step back clumsily. What did you just do? What the hell is going on? 

You back up and stumble into a hard chest, whirling around to see - 

Holy shit.

Is that Jason fucking Todd? 

You open your mouth to speak, to say something, but nothing comes out, so you end up gaping at him like a fish. 

After a few seconds of awkward silence, you finally find it in yourself to speak, albeit stutteringly and stammeringly. “I - uh, you, I mean - sorry.” Your cheeks turn embarrassingly red. “For - bumping into you. I mean.” 

A small smile appears on his lips. “It’s fine.”

Another awkward silence passes before you voice the question you were dying to ask. “So, uh, I’m Y/N L/N. What’s your name?” 

“Oh, I’m Jason. Jason Todd.” 

Your heart stops and you choke on air. You freak out internally. Mini Y/Ns are running around screaming “HOLY FUCK” over and over again, and Jason has to wave his hand in front of your face to catch your attention. 

Yeah, you’re pretty sure your whole face is a tomato right now.

Over the period of 2 hours, you guys get past the awkwardness and get more comfortable with each other, and really hit it off. He’s funnier than you could have ever imagined, definitely more handsome, but maybe just as charming. You pretend not to know everything there is to know about this man, and he doesn’t seem to suspect a thing.

At the end of the day, Jason and you walk out of the library (after half an hour of the librarian shushing you two and glaring), hand in hand. You feel like you’re floating on a cloud. This is your dream, come true. 

The next two months are even better. You learn something new about him every day, and it’s genuinely new - the comics never got this personal. You constantly feel like you’re in a dream. Everything is so perfect, and it’s honestly too good to be true… but it is.

Isn’t it? 

You begin to notice strange occurrences in your daily life. For one, you haven’t seen Aria ever since you met Jason. It’s like she’s been completely wiped off the grid. You have no idea where she is, what she’s doing… You’re getting worried. There has to be something wrong. 

Two days into the third month you’ve known Jason, he asks you to be his girlfriend. Practically bursting at the seams with excitement, you kiss him, and well, damn, he’s a better kisser than you could’ve ever imagined.

Halfway into the second month of your relationship, he tells you that he’s a vigilante, and you pretend to be shocked. But your worry is definitely the most genuine it’s ever been. 

Jason insists on teaching you basic self-defence, and you oblige. It’s not the best idea, because every session ends up in making out, but it turns out to be especially handy… when you get kidnapped by the Joker, on his death anniversary. 

This is the most hurt you’ve ever felt in your lifetime. Your ribs throb continually, waves of excruciating pain rolling over you. 

“I deeply apologise for the inconvenience, but a little birdie told me that another bird holds you dear to his heart.” The Joker grins down at you, flashing sharp yellow teeth, madness dancing in his eyes as he brandishes a crowbar. “So here’s hoping your death will rip him apart!” 

He swings the crowbar at you again, causing blood to dribble from your mouth. “How was that? Feel good?” He cackles insanely. 

You tilt your chin up as much as you can, give him a defiant look, and spit blood at him. You miss, but it’s the thought that counts. 

He scowls, hitting you again. It definitely hurts but you prefer his scowl over his laugh. You allow yourself this small victory, before your eyes start to get heavy. 

“Oh yes! I almost forgot.” The madman takes out a small piece of paper and a pen out of his bloody purple suit, and scribbles something on it, then shows it to you. It reads, “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, JASON!” 

He places the note beside your head. Even more blood collects in your mouth, and you begin to drift into unconsciousness. He swings the crowbar once again, and you are gone. 

The last thing you see is the glass ceiling shattering, and 3 costumed figures dropping out. The last thing you taste is the blood in your mouth. The last thing you smell is the stench of your blood.

The last thing you hear is Jason’s anguished yell.

And you wake. 

Clutching at your ribs, you pant. You are blood-free, in your bedroom, and in your pyjamas. Not a bloody body in an abandoned warehouse. There is no trace of The Joker, Jason, Tim or Dick. Confusion overtakes you. 

Then it hits you, the truth that deep down you’ve known or at least suspected, the truth that you’ve rejected and tried to forget about. 

Everything was just a dream. That’s all it was. Your dream was just a dream, always has been. You feel like screaming. It was just way too good to be true, wasn’t it? 

The door opens, and Aria pokes her head into your room. “You look terrible,” she points out. “Bad dream?” 

You run your fingers through your hair, and tears spring to your eyes as you think about how real Jason felt. “Sort of,” you mutter.

* * *

It’s been two weeks, and you don’t feel that much better. You already hated the Joker, but now you can’t stand to see his face. Sometimes you miss Jason, a little bit.

Okay, you miss Jason a lot, and all the time. You just can’t stop thinking about him. 

It’s even affecting your daily habits of comic book reading. You can’t read anything to do with Jason or the Batfam without feeling this pang in your chest. 

Honestly, you’re getting sick of missing him. He’s a fictional character, for God’s sake! You aren’t saying that you thought you had a chance before, but ever since that dream, you actually know what it feels like to be loved by Jason Todd, and it hurts that you’ll never feel it again. 

Maybe whatever deity above who gave you that dream wants you to just dream it, and then get over it, like it was a treat that you miss but eventually forget about. But it didn’t work that way. Not for you. 

So you continue with your daily life, with week after week of boring normality. 

It’s a normal day. You’re just walking to the library, and boom - you just smack right into someone’s chest. You back up and open your mouth to apologise when a white streak in the stranger’s hair catches your eye. 

It can’t be. Could it? 

He does look exactly like Jason Todd. But that can’t be, it’s just a coincidence, because Jason isn’t real, right?

Gaping, you clear your throat and manage to stammer out an apology, and a “I - I’m Y/N.” He chuckles and says. “It’s fine. I’m Jason.” 

And you swear you nearly faint.


End file.
